The President’s budget invests approximately $3.5 billion for domestic HIV/AIDS activities across HHS to expand access to affordable health care and prevention services and align activities with the Strategy. The budget also incorporates a number of policy changes designed to support and accelerate our efforts to achieve the goals of the NHAS. Below are summaries of three of the most significant ones.

One of the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy was to refocus existing efforts and deliver better results to the American people within current funding levels, as well as make the case for new investments. The Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) is excited to share some of the progress the Obama Administration has made over the last few months.

Last July, when we released the Strategy, the President issued a Presidential Memorandum that directed six lead agencies (Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Veterans Affairs) to submit agency operational plans for implementing the Strategy. He also directed the Department of Defense, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Department of State to provide recommendations for implementing the Strategy.

ONAP is pleased to release the plans developed by the agencies, as well as an overview report that we produced to demonstrate the synergies achieved by having all of the lead agencies work toward shared goals. The ONAP Overview Report and the individual plans themselves can all be accessed at www.AIDS.gov.

policyOctober 05, 2010

As part of America’s leadership in saving lives and alleviating suffering around the world, the United States announced today that it intends to make an unprecedented three-year pledge of support to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The pledge is tied to the call for smart investments and shared responsibility to reach the goal of saving more lives efficiently and effectively.

The Obama Administration intends to seek $4 billion for the Fund for 2011 through 2013 to continue America’s strong support for this important multilateral partner. This pledge is a 38% increase in the U.S. investment over the preceding three-year period – a substantial increase especially in light of the overall budget challenges and the largest increase by far of any donor nation this year.

On September 24th, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that CDC allocated $30 million of the Affordable Care Act's Prevention and Public Health Fund to expand HIV prevention efforts under the President's National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS). The funding includes nearly $22 million of grants for state and local health departments. Secretary Sebelius indicated that the funding will give a critical boost to our HIV/AIDS prevention efforts across the country by focusing on communities and geographic areas that have been hardest hit by this disease.

This funding will allow those of us working in HIV prevention at the federal, state, and local level to support innovative, evidence-based and high-impact prevention efforts in line with recommendations from the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. It is providing us with the opportunity to make critical investments that will make a real impact on prevention efforts, allowing us to reach further into those communities that are at highest risk.

PolicySeptember 16, 2010

Over the next three years, CDC will award almost $6.2 million to health departments in six demonstration project areas to accelerate prevention through program collaboration and service integration (PCSI) for HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, STDs, and TB. PCSI is a critical strategic priority for CDC, and we are working through this strategy to improve the health of those suffering from more than one of these diseases.

We know that the same behaviors that put people at risk of HIV also put them at risk for STDs and hepatitis; that STDs can facilitate HIV transmission; and that HIV increases the risk of TB. We know too that there are myriad social and personal factors that function as determinants for health and health outcomes. Because similar risk, socioeconomic, and behavioral factors fuel the spread of these infections, we must address them collectively.

Organizing and blending interrelated health issues, activities, and prevention strategies can facilitate a comprehensive delivery of services to prevent, diagnose, and treat interconnected diseases. In communities that are considered “hard to reach,” even small changes in the way prevention services are delivered can make a dramatic difference by reaching a larger population, providing a single point of entry for multiple services, and improving efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and health outcomes.

Eligible funding jurisdictions had high burden of disease and represented 80% of the disease burden for AIDS, TB, Hepatitis B, syphilis, and gonorrhea in the Unites States in 2007. Out of the 40 organizations eligible for funding, we received 26 high quality applications. All of these went through CDC’s objective review process, after which six state and city health departments were chosen to receive funding. They are New York City, North Carolina, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Texas, and Washington, D.C.

Funding for this type of approach is still limited, but CDC is hopeful that by implementing this approach in the areas with the highest disease burden, adequate data can be gathered to build evidence for the PCSI strategy, and build opportunity for more extensive implementation nationwide. As funding allows in Fiscal Year 2011, NCHHSTP intends to fund more jurisdictions from the pool of applications based on the scores from the CDC objective review process.

I would like to thank all of you who support program collaboration and service integration, those who applied for funding, and those who are interested in learning more. Please stay in touch – I know there will be much more to share as this effort moves forward.